Sunday, March 31, 2013

Egypt’s Public prosecutor has ordered the immediate arrest of popular
TV host Bassem Youssef on Saturday, calling for him to be brought in
for alleged insults he made about Islam and the Egyptian President
Mohamed Mursi, state news agency reported.

Youssef, the host of
Al-Barnameg or the Program in English has been dubbed the Egyptian Jon
Stewart, used his personal Twitter account to confirm the order for his
arrest.

“The warrant and order to arrest me is true,” Youssef
tweeted Saturday afternoon. “I will go tomorrow to the Attorney
General’s office, but if you prefer to send a box to deliver me in today
it will save me money on transportation.”

Minutes following his
tweet, Youssef’s fans filed out comments expressing their sadness,
support, and disappointment at the Egyptian government’s behavior.

One
follower @sanfoora wrote “Please be careful, please don’t go”. Other
tweeps criticized him for his performance on Friday’s night’s episode.
@AmrEzzat tweeted “You shouldn’t have pushed the envelope too far during
your latest appearance.”

Youssef’s latest Tweet encouraged the
public to “unfollow” Mursi on his Twitter account as an act of revenge
over the president’s “sever assault against freedom”. “This way I will
be outnumbering him with my follower… what an earthshaking comeback.”

During
Friday’s show, Youssef mocked Mursi’s speech on state television, which
he made after the attacks on the Muslim Brotherhood Headquarters
earlier this week. Youssef replayed the recorded speech and added some
of his ‘humorous special effects’ by implementing graphics of a magic
stick, lightening stocks, and sparks of fire at every hand gesture Mursi
made during his address to the nation.

Youssef’s Twitter followers have said that he ‘pushed the buttons’ too far.

“Ever
since the president came to power, he held the heads of all Egyptians
high making us all proud,” Youssef said during his episode followed by a
large crowd of laughter.

Youssef said his work is not aimed at
Islamists, but instead on government officials who are ruling the
country and making decisions.

Previously, Youssef poked fun at
those in power along with Mursi's temporary adoption of extensive powers
back in November and December 2012.

Youssef is not only known
amongst Egyptians, his work has reached other nations and has been
picked up by renowned comedic figures, like America’s Jon Stewart
himself and a Syrian revolution artist Asalah al-Nasri.

“He
highlights critical topics and presents his material in a sharp comedic
way,” al-Nasri told Al Arabiya. “I love how daring he is and how he
treats different issues.”

Amr Katamesh, an Egyptian actor and
standup political comedian known for using poetry to deliver his
message, told Al Arabiya that he follows Youssef very carefully and
enjoys watching his program.

“Although we have different styles
in performing comedy, but I appreciate Mr. Youssef’s bravery and style
when delivering his messages,” Katamesh added.

Youssef is known
to have embroiled high-profile media personalities in the country
trading fierce retorts and warnings of legal action against the host.

Previously
a heart surgeon, the doctor-cum-comedian presents his parody show on
the privately-owned "CBC" Egyptian satellite channel every Friday.

The government of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi continues
to escalate its offensive against journalists. Details of the most recent case,
in which an arrest warrant was issued for blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah for
inciting "aggression" against members of the Muslim Brotherhood, show how low
the government is willing to go in order to silence its critics.

Abdel Fattah went voluntarily Tuesday to the office of
Prosecutor General Talaat Abdullah after hearing about the
warrant against him in the media. What followed was a mockery. According to
his testimony, the
questions he received were all about comments by others posted on his Twitter
and Facebook accounts, not about things he said or did.

There was no evidence,
witnesses, or even a sign of prior investigation by police. Their focus was on
a Twitter
mention of his user name by another Twitterer, going by the handle Princess
Joumana. The naïve members of the Muslim Brotherhood who filed the complaint
against Abdel Fattah apparently thought the interaction on social media was a conspiracy
involving a real princess--possibly from a hostile government such as that of
the United Arab Emirates, where Brotherhood members are
being put on trial.

Furthermore, according to Abdel Fattah, there was never a
need to issue an arrest warrant, since he was never asked, and never declined,
to appear in front of the authorities for investigation. Even more astonishing,
the arrest order came only three days after the complaints were presented to
the Prosecutor General, while many other complaints and requests for
investigation--including into attacks
by members of the Muslim Brotherhood--have not been carried out.

Why the rush to
investigate a Twitter mention while turning a blind eye to assaults and other human
rights violations by Muslim Brothers and Egyptian police which have been documented
and shown
on TV?

The answer is clear. When your adversary is also the judge, a
Twitter mention can become evidence. In his testimony, Abdel
Fattah said he denounced the investigation and sought an independent judge to
run it instead of the prosecutor general.

The latter, in Abdel Fattah's view,
is allied with the Muslim Brotherhood, who initiated the complaint against him.
Abdullah was appointed by Morsi in November in a power grab that resulted in a series
of protests by the opposition and strikes within the judiciary.

Today, in fact,
Egypt's Court of Appeals ruled that Morsi's sacking of Abdullah's predecessor
was illegal
and void, according to news reports, and the Egyptian Syndicate for
Journalists announced that it would not cooperate with him.

Abdel Fattah is a well-known blogger who also refused
to cooperate with a military court investigation against him last year for
criticism of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which
released him.

On Tuesday, hundreds of his friends, supporters, and volunteer
lawyers accompanied
him to the prosecutor general's office. The show of support forced prosecutors,
once again, to release him without bail--but what happens to others in the
Egyptian media who do not have his profile and support?

There are reports that the investigation against Abdel
Fattah is one of dozens, and that other journalists critical of the Muslim
Brotherhood will be next. Today, government newspaper Al-Ahramreported
that Lamees al-Hadidy, Amro Adeeb, and Youssef al-Husseiny, who host three of
the top talk shows on CBC, OnTV, and Orbit private TV channels, respectively,
will be investigated for "violating journalist's ethics in order to incite
sedition and chaos and threatening national peace."

Those in media are already
coming under pressure from inflammatory, anti-press comments by Morsi and
members of the Brotherhood, and now they can witness how the law is being
abused and the justice system bent backwards in order to silence them.

As troubling as this is, it's perhaps more troubling that
young activists who use social media to disseminate information and news about
the Muslim Brotherhood are taking a direct hit. The government, in order to
continue investigations and produce evidence, has decided to launch an
Internet monitoring operation by those police who usually patrol the Internet
for fraud and other online crimes.

There
is a fear that this will be used to track activist down and violate their
privacy. Today, local news reported
that Essam Mohamed, a Facebook activist who runs an anti-Muslim Brotherhood page
under a fake name, was arrested without charge in the industrial city of Mahalaa
on a complaint to the public prosecutor that he, like Abdel Fattah, incited
"aggression" against members of the Brotherhood.

Time and time again, officials have accused ongoing protests, workers’
strikes and labor action of halting the so-called wheel of production. The
counter argument has also been reiterated, attributing the ailing economy to
the government’s myriad bad decisions and their mismanaged implementation.

Production implies industry, and industry refers to the
thousands of factories in Egypt, all of which have suffered in one way
or another as a result of an economic slowdown, a mounting funding
crisis on the national level, diminished foreign reserves and feeble
capital inflows.

The dynamic only exacerbates already existing problems
in the country’s industrial sector, incurring further discontent among
workers. These sector-specific troubles are reflective of, and further
compounded by, broader economic turmoil.

Since the January 2011 uprising, at least 4,500
factories have been shut down, with hundreds of thousands of workers
laid off, according to a study conducted by a labor rights group in
February.

As Egypt’s dire economic conditions worsen, further closures and layoffs are expected.

The study by the Center for Trade Union and Workers’
Services, or CTUWS, an independent NGO, was conducted in 74 industrial
zones across the country. In terms of the effect on joblessness, the
findings appear to correspond with official statistics compiled by the
Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.

The agency’s statistics indicate that Egypt’s
unemployment rate has risen to a record 13 percent, roughly 3.5 million
people from a total workforce of some 27 million.

Adel Zakariya of CTUWS says hundreds of thousands of
workers have been rendered jobless since the onset of the revolution.
While an exact number is tough to determine, he says the mass of layoffs
is “unprecedented.”

“The exact number of sacked workers is difficult to
gauge at any given point of time. For example, we find that sacked
workers from a certain food-processing company may relocate to another
such company within the same industrial zone in which they worked,” he
says. “A lack of employment contracts and masked or seasonal
unemployment make it nearly impossible to assess the exact numbers of
unemployed workers.”

More closures, not less

Nearly all factories that have been shut down since the
revolution are private-sector companies, Zakariya says. “We’ve witnessed
partial company closures, including the closures of some factories and
production lines within these companies, along with total company
closures.”

While he recognizes that there were hundreds of factory
closures during former President Hosni Mubarak’s rule, the “rate has
increased exponentially since the revolution.”

The 4,500 factory closures cited in the study is not
comprehensive; it is a result of the number of factories surveyed in
industrial zones that the CTUWS has been monitoring. The actual sum,
Zakariya predicts, is likely significantly higher.

“Numerous different industries have been hit by these
closures. Perhaps the hardest-hit industry is textiles,” he says, though
“the textile industry has been in a steady state of decline since
Mubarak.”

A combination of mismanagement, corruption and
indebtedness of public-sector textile companies led to broad
privatization measures in the early 1990s. Dozens of these companies
slashed the workforce they inherited from the public sector, and, after
their privatization, appear to have been similarly mismanaged.

The Cairo Administrative Court nullified some
privatization contracts over the past two years, leaving companies such
as Indorama Shebin Textile, Nile Cotton Ginning, and Tanta Flax and Oils
in limbo, as the state has declined to re-nationalize them.

The steady decline of Egypt’s cotton industry also
prompted the import of lower-grade cotton, leading to a deterioration in
the quality of domestically manufactured textiles. In turn, hundreds of
thousands of textile workers have been rendered jobless, while more
recent economic factors threaten to further increase unemployment rates.

The textile industry has suffered most in the
private-sector industrial zones of Sadat City and 10th of Ramadan City,
while metallurgical industries have been impacted most in Obour City.

Financial obstacles

The surge in the number of factory closures is
attributed to factors that have impinged on the economy at large.
Zakariya cites “difficulties in procuring financing and bank loans,
which have in turn negatively affected production and exports, along
with some capital flight from Egypt amid the climate of political
instability in the country since the revolution.”

Industry insiders and bankers have cited a shortage of
dollars with a depreciating pound and scarce foreign reserves as reasons
for the banking sector’s increasing hesitancy in providing funding and
lines of credit. This affects the ability of ailing companies and
factories to obtain rescue loans or financial support, and also stymies
the import-export flow of goods.

Zakariya admits that financial problems may be
compounded by workers’ strikes and industrial actions. “But although
strikes do negatively affect production, these industrial actions are at
the bottom of the list of factors leading to factory closures,” he
says.

A statement issued last month by Finance Minister Morsy
Hegazy said Egypt incurs losses of about LE100 million per day due to
labor strikes and political unrest.

One private-sector company with a number of factories
blames industrial action for its problems, and last month its owner took
drastic measures to make his point heard.

Farag Amer, chairman of the Faragello Food Industries
Company board of directors, wrote a widely circulated statement in late
February accusing President Mohamed Morsy’s regime of failing to respond
to what he called “blackmail and the moral deviance” of workers, who
launched “unwarranted strikes in contravention to the provisions of
law.”

On 20 February, Amer imposed a lockout, and shut down
his factories across the country following industrial action by workers
in Alexandria.

The Faragello administrative board ordered the sacking
of 27 striking workers, including 17 union leaders, according to workers
and independent union organizers.

A senior administrator from the Faragello company, who
spoke on condition of anonymity, tells Egypt Independent, “We’re back to
operations as usual. All our companies and factories across the country
have returned to work.

“We had shut down operations for only a few days in
light of the illogical demands raised by newly employed workers, calling
for unrealistic bonuses and pay raises,” he says, but did not comment
on the dismissal of unionists and striking workers from the company.

But Zakariya says political as well as financial factors
motivated the temporary closure. While it’s not clear what the company
owners’ affiliations are, they appear to be seeking Morsy’s intervention
in dealing with striking workers and independent unionism in their
company.

“Faragello’s administration is involved in a game of
political maneuvers with the new regime ... playing its political
pressure cards with the regime, because they want to eliminate strikes
and independent labor unions,” he claims.

The Faragello administrator went on to say, “We demand
security and stability for our industries, and for the country as a
whole.”

However, he adds, the company may deal with problems such as lack of diesel and fuel to power the factories in the future.

Egypt’s diesel crisis has extended far beyond affecting
drivers and causing winding traffic jams around gas stations. It is now
halting work at some factories, disrupting transportation of school
buses and, more critically, failing to meet the needs of power plants as
the heavy energy-consuming summer months approach.

“Given the national outlook for diesel and fuel
shortages, along with associated electricity blackouts, we are expecting
additional factory closures and even more layoffs. Whether these
closures will be permanent or temporary, partial or complete, we’ll have
to wait and see,” Zakariya says.

Factories in Sadat City and 10th of Ramdan are edging closer toward possible closures due to the diesel crisis, he adds.

Government response

Government officials have attempted to address the
numerous factory closures, while simultaneously proposing plans to
create thousands of new jobs. On 6 March, the Cabinet claimed the
government helped secure 522,000 job opportunities, including 345,000
locally and 177,000 for Egyptians abroad.

In a televised interview 25 February, Morsy said 119 new
factories commenced operations in Egypt that month, with about 300 more
factories in the pipeline. The Finance, Manpower, Investment and Youth
ministries proposed an ambitious plan to jointly create 700,000 new jobs
this year.

However, union organizer Tallal Shokr, board member of
the Egyptian Democratic Labor Congress, is skeptical of these grand
proclamations.

“The government claims that it has secured hundreds of
thousands of job opportunities for Egyptians, and claims that it will
create hundreds of thousands more — these are baseless claims, merely
for media consumption,” Shokr says. “The reality is that unemployment
has reached a record high, and new job opportunities are not being
provided, at least not on the scale that the government is claiming.”

He cited as further setbacks the state’s move toward
cutting public spending in an attempt to rein in the widening deficit,
as well as plans to curb subsidies and a number of expected measures
associated with the US$4.8 billion International Monetary Fund loan
being negotiated.

“In light of current economic conditions, the government
will not be able to provide the 700,000 new jobs that it speaks of. The
best it can do is to provide contracts for those who are already
employed and claim that they have created all these new jobs,” he adds.

*This piece was originally published in Egypt Independent's weekly print edition.**Photo courtesy of Al-Masry Al-Youm

The Association of Egyptian Doctors in Riyadh (AEDR)
was officially established on 21 March 2013, making it the first such
entity to service tens of thousands of Egyptian doctors in Saudi
Arabia’s nearly non-existent civil society.

The origins of this association date back to 2005. Yet
since its initial foundation, and even before, tens of Egyptian doctors
are reported to have been imprisoned — often without clear charges — and
have reportedly been abused in detention.

Furthermore, Egyptian doctors employed in Saudi Arabia have
reported a number of other grievances associated with contractual,
legal and financial violations.

Established under the aegis of the Foreign Affairs
Committee of the Doctors Syndicate, the AEDR is not itself a
professional syndicate, as no syndicates or labor unions exist in the
ultra-conservative kingdom.

The basic framework for the AEDR was established in the
presence of 65 doctors at the Egyptian Consulate in Riyadh on 30
December 2005. The association was officially inaugurated on Thursday,
and its first general assembly conference was held at a five-star hotel
the following day.

According to the AEDR's Facebook page,
the association currently has a registered membership of over 1,000
Egyptian doctors in Saudi Arabia.

Its aims include promoting the
professional standards of physicians; increasing coordination between
Egyptian doctors and consular staff in Riyadh; improving communications
between the association and the Doctors Syndicate in Egypt; assistance
in resolving doctors’ professional problems; assisting members in
finding job opportunities; organizing social and recreational
activities, and organizing programs for doctors’ children.

“This association is meant to protect the rights and
freedoms of all Egyptian doctors working in Saudi Arabia,” says Dr.
Khairy Abdel-Dayyem, chairman of the Doctors Syndicate and a member of
the Muslim Brotherhood.

One of the more important objectives is to provide up-to-date medical training programs and seminars for its members, he adds.

Abdel-Dayyem says that an estimated 50,000 Egyptian doctors
work in the Gulf, mostly concentrated in Saudi Arabia. He could not
provide exact figures of Egyptian doctors in Riyadh or Saudi Arabia as a
whole, however.

Dr. Amr al-Shoura, media coordinator for Doctors Without
Rights — an Egyptian protest movement — explained that while the AEDR is
the first such entity to be established in the Gulf, there are similar
associations for Egyptian doctors in Paris, London and Tripoli.

Egyptian doctors have a sour history in Saudi Arabia,
experiencing unwarranted arrests, imprisonment, lack of due-process,
physical abuse, corporal punishment and even torture. These grievances
have led several Egyptian doctors to embark on hunger strikes in prisons
and jails across the kingdom in the past.

Both Shoura and Abdel-Dayyem agree another chief problem
facing Egyptian doctors in Saudi Arabia, and in Arab Gulf countries in
general, is the kafeel (a sponsorship system of
employment), whereby every foreign employee is strictly supervised by a
native sponsor and cannot travel domestically or abroad without their
consent.

The Doctors Syndicate
in Egypt recently released a report indicating that the last five
imprisoned Egyptian doctors were released from detention in Saudi Arabia
earlier this year.

The syndicate, which is dominated by members of the ruling
Muslim Brotherhood, has issued statements indicating that these
“wrongfully imprisoned doctors” were released in light of a royal
amnesty, which was issued after President Mohamed Morsy recently visited
the kingdom.

While there, Morsy reportedly presented Saudi authorities
with a list of these “wrongfully detained” Egyptian physicians, some of
whom had been languishing for years in prison without due process.

These exculpations have also been attributed to pressure
applied by members of the Doctors Syndicate who staged numerous protests
outside the Saudi Embassy in Giza.

Commenting on the arrests of Egyptian doctors, along with
other professionals allegedly affiliated with the Brotherhood in
December 2012, Shoura went on to add that “there was a swift and
immediate response from the syndicate when it discovered that the
detained Egyptian doctors in the United Arab Emirates were Brotherhood
members."

"The speed and effort exerted to campaign for the release
of these imprisoned Brotherhood doctors in the Emirates was
unprecedented," he says.

Shoura argues this is a result of the so-called
"Brotherhoodization" of the syndicate, which effectively caters to the
Brotherhood-dominated board's s demands and ignores other more universal
demands, such as an increase in the national health budget.

Abdel-Dayyem insists that “the Association of Egyptian
Doctors in Riyadh, like the Doctors’ Syndicate, is a non-partisan and
non-politicized professional association which works for the interests
of all its members, regardless of their affiliations.”

Abdel-Dayyem declined to mention whether this association was appointed or elected.

However, Shoura stresses, “We have few details and little
understanding about the Association of Egyptian Doctors in Riyadh. This
is because the Brotherhood, with their near monopoly in the syndicate,
has kept others in the dark regarding information relating to the
establishment of such overseas organizations.”

“The Brotherhood refuses to establish any such association
if it isn't under their direct control. This has paved the way for the
further politicization of associations abroad," Shoura stresses.

Repeated attempts to contact members of the AEDR have proven unsuccessful.

Committee to Protect Journalists

March 25, 2013

The
Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the violent siege on Sunday of
the Media Production City, a complex housing numerous private news outlets in
Cairo, an episode that followed a series of inflammatory anti-press comments by
President Mohamed Morsi and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

"President Morsi's
escalated rhetoric against the critical press is deeply troubling," said Sherif
Mansour, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa coordinator. "The president is not
meeting his responsibility to set a tone of tolerance and respect for
viewpoints that differ from his own and those of the Muslim Brotherhood."

An escalation in anti-press rhetoric
by the president followed a week of violent protests outside the Muslim
Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo that reached a high point on Friday. In a speech Sunday, Morsi accused owners of private
news outlets of criticizing and insulting him, and said the media had incited
violence by covering only the attacks on protesters--and not those on Muslim
Brotherhood members, news reports said.

Echoing those remarks, the Muslim
Brotherhood used social networking sites to call for a siege on Sunday of the
Media Production City in Cairo. A Facebook group, called "We are the Muslim Brotherhood youth, learn about us," encouraged protesters to besiege the studios of five private satellite channels--Al-Hayat, ONTV,
Al-Nahar, Al-Qahira wal Nas, and CBC--located inside the Media Production City.
The outlets are known for criticizing the Muslim Brotherhood group.

On Thursday, the National Security
Committee--a part of the Egyptian upper house of parliament--accused the private
media of biased coverage and said that the government should censor private
outlets, according to news reports. An official in the meeting, Essam al-Erian, a Muslim
Brotherhood majority leader, also threatened an Al-Watan correspondent, saying he had "surprises for them ... that
would make everyone in the media know their limits," the paper reported.

On Sunday, members and supporters of the
Muslim Brotherhood surrounded the Media Production City, closing the gates and
refusing entrance to journalists and guests. Protesters assaulted journalists to prevent them from filming, and chanted threatening
slogans to journalists inside the city, saying they would be slaughtered for their insults to Morsi, according
to news reports.

Hussein Abdel Ghany, a prominent
news host and a former correspondent of Al-Jazeera in Egypt, told CPJ that he
was attacked by 10 individuals outside the city and the windshield of his car
broken. He said protesters attempted to take him out of his car and beat him,
but that his driver prevented the attack.

Reham al-Sahli, a host of the talk show
"90 Minutes" was attacked and her car damaged in the protests,
according to news reports. Diaa Rashwan, head of the Egyptian Journalists
Syndicate, was prevented from entering Media Production City,
reports said.

A journalist at Al-Ahram Weekly, Khaled Dawoud, told CPJ he had received death
threats as a result of his writings and his role as a media spokesman for the
National Salvation Front, an opposition organization that includes liberal and
leftist parties. Muslim Brotherhood supporters claim that the organization
provides a "political cover" for the violent protests against them.

"Authorities are prosecuting critics while
ignoring numerous attacks against journalists last week alone," said Mansour.
"The attacks that took place at the gates of Media Production City demand
immediate judicial intervention."

Today, Egypt Prosecutor General Talaat
Abdullah ordered the arrests of five activists and journalists after Muslim Brotherhood
members accused them of inciting violence following Morsi's speech, according
to news reports. The prosecutor also imposed a travel ban on them. The list
includes Alaa Abdel Fattah, a prominent blogger who was accused and fined last year for "insulting
the military," according to news reports.

Abdel Fattah vowed on his Facebook account to appear in front of the prosecutor tomorrow to challenge the "fabricated
charges" against him, while others, including columnist and activist Hazim
Abdel Azim, decided to ignore what they considered an "illegitimate" arrest
warrant, according to news reports.

Abdullah was appointed by Morsi last
November in a move that resulted in series of protests from the opposition and strikes
within the judiciary. He has referred dozens of journalists and media professionals in the past few months
for investigation by public prosecutors because of accusations of criminal
defamation of President Morsi.

Clashes broke out Sunday evening at Media Production City between
protesters and security forces after demonstrators had earlier
responded to calls to storm certain TV channel studios in the city.
Demonstrators prevented cameramen from reporting on the clashes.

Dozens of protesters supporting President Mohamed Morsy had rallied in front of Media Production City and tried to storm Gate 4. Police created a security cordon behind the gate inside the city to stop the demonstrators.

Protesters chanted slogans against media personalities as they tried
to break in, while wearing green headbands with “There is no god but
Allah” written on them, and raised flags with the same slogan. They also
raised flags of the Raya Party, led by Salafi leader Hazem Salah Abu
Ismail.

Some members of Umatana, an independent Islamist movement, who
participated in the demonstration assaulted video journalists from
satellite channels in an attempt to prevent them from filming as they
tried to storm the city gate.

A group of protesters tried to prevent others from storming the gate,
but they insisted on entering the city to try and reach satellite
channels’ studios.

Demonstrators painted graffiti on the ground in front of Media
Production City Gate 4, condemning those who still believe the media.

Security forces had intensified their presence Sunday morning in
front of Media Production City to deal with potential violence and to
protect workers in the city, after Islamist activists’ threats to storm
it.

More than 15 ambulances were deployed to the area in case clashes erupted.

On Saturday, Muslim Brotherhood Secretary General Mahmoud Hussein
said that the group will not take part in the protests in the Media
Production City.

Morsy accused private media Sunday of inciting violence. Without
giving names, he said owners of private satellite channels who have
problems with the state, such as not paying taxes, use media host to
criticize and insult him.

This is the second time Islamists have protested in front of Media
Production City, a vast complex containing high-tech studios and
open-air filming areas located outside Cairo.

In December, various Salafi movements organized one-week sit-in in
front of the city under the title of “Sharia First,” to demand the
dismissal of talk show hosts they considered “tools for burning the
country.”

Islamists have recently lambasted private media that have been very
critical of the Muslim Brotherhood. Islamists say some channels — such
as Dream TV, owned by businessman Ahmed Bahgat; ONtv, which was owned
by businessman Naguib Sawiris; and CBC, which is owned by businessman
Mohamed al-Amin — are tools for the counter-revolution.

Egypt's president delivered a stern warning to his opponents on Sunday,
saying he may be close to taking unspecified measures to "protect this
nation" two days after supporters of his Muslim Brotherhood and
opposition protesters fought street battles in the worst bout of
political violence in three months.

Nearly 200 people were injured in Friday's violence, some seriously,
outside the headquarters of the Brotherhood, Egypt's dominant political
group.

"If I have to do what is necessary to protect this nation I will, and I
am afraid that I may be close to doing so," a visibly angry Morsi said
in an animated speech to the opening session of a conference on women's
rights.

"I will do so very, very soon. Sooner than those trying to shake the
image of this nation think," said the Islamist leader who took office in
June as the country's first freely elected president.

"Let us not be dragged into an area where I will take a harsh decision," he warned.

While not naming any one opposition group or critic in particular, his
comments were the strongest hint to date that he believes the parties
and politicians grouped in the National Salvation Front, the main
opposition coalition, were directly behind the violence.

His comments were initially released in a series of tweets on his
account but state television later aired extensive excerpts from the
address.

He also warned that "appropriate measures" would be taken against
politicians found to be behind Friday's violence, regardless of their
seniority. Anyone found to be using the media to "incite violence" will
also be held accountable, he added.

His comments came just hours after
dozens of Islamists staged a protest outside studios belonging to
independent TV networks that are critical of the Egyptian leader.

The Islamists are protesting what they see as the biased coverage of
Friday's clashes. The Brotherhood says it does not support the protest,
but some of the protesters were chanting slogans in support of
Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie.

Friday's clashes followed an assault a week earlier by Brotherhood
supporters on protesters painting derogatory graffiti outside the
group's headquarters.

The protesters chanted hostile slogans and taunted
Brotherhood supporters when some of them tried to stop demonstrators
from posting flyers on the headquarters' outside walls.

The Brotherhood supporters also assaulted reporters at the scene. The
group later said its supporters were provoked by the protesters who
scribbled profanities on the headquarters' outside walls and that the
reporters were part of the protest.

Morsi's comments made no direct mention of the clashes but appeared to
be a possible prelude to measures against the mostly liberal and secular
opposition.

"I call on all political forces not to provide a political cover for
violence, rioting and attacks on private and public property," Morsi
said. "I will not be happy if investigations find some politicians
guilty."

The National Salvation Front said in a statement it did not condone
violence and called for an independent probe into all incidents of
violence.

Noting that the presidency, the government and the Brotherhood
were making "fierce attacks" on the media, blaming it for inciting the
violence, which it said was rather the result of failed promises of
inclusiveness by Morsi and his group. It contends that the Brotherhood
aims to monopolize power and control the state.

Only "drastic political solutions and genuine national participation" will save Egypt from the cycle of violence, it added.

The latest bout of political violence was the worst seen in Egypt since
at least 10 people died in clashes between supporters and opponents of
Morsi in Cairo in December. Images of bloodied men from the two sides,
burning buses and rows of black-clad riot police were splashed across
the front pages of Egypt's newspapers on Sunday and Saturday, giving the
distinct impression of a nation torn by strife.

Violence and a quick succession of political crises are deepening the
schism in Egypt between Morsi and his Islamist supporters on one hand,
and moderate Muslims, secular and leftist Egyptians along with
Christians and women on the other.

The seemingly endless political
unrest in the eight months since Morsi took office, coupled with a free
falling economy and tenuous security situation, have led some
commentators and politicians to warn of civil war if nothing is done
soon. Morsi however on Sunday dismissed the prospect of the "collapse"
of Egypt as a false notion entertained by his foes.

He also repeated earlier claims that the political violence was
engineered by remnants of the Hosni Mubarak regime, toppled in a popular
uprising two years ago, and fueled by outside powers he did not
identify. He also claimed that paid thugs were behind the violence, not
genuine protesters.

"No one in our neighborhood wants this nation to stand on its feet. I
will cut off any finger that meddles in Egypt," he said alluding to
alleged foreign interference. "I can see two or three fingers that are
meddling inside," he said without elaborating.

Morsi also sought to debunk an often repeated charge that he places the
interests of the Brotherhood ahead of those of the nation and that he is
only the president of the "Brothers."

"I never was and I never will be," he said in response to those charges.
Ruthlessly ridiculed in the independent media, Morsi said he did not
mind criticism of his person. "But I will not allow it when criticizing
the president of the republic is designed to undermine the nation."

Xinhua News

March 22, 2013

CAIRO, (Xinhua) -- At least 190 people were
injured as bloody clashes erupted Friday between Muslim Brotherhood's
(MB) supporters and opponents near the group's headquarters in the
Egyptian capital of Cairo and other governorates across Egypt, a medical
official source told Xinhua.
Mohamed Sultan, head of Egypt's Ambulance Authority, told Xinhua that
"some 127 were injured near the MB headquarters in Moqattam, Cairo, and
were taken to nearby hospitals, while 59 were treated on the spot,"
noting the other four were injured in similar clashes in Gharbiya and
Sharqiya governorates.

"The injuries varied between wounds and bruises and there were no injuries from gunshots," Sultan reaffirmed.

However, some local websites said one was killed late night during
the clashes but it has not yet been confirmed by official sources.

In Cairo, a number of anti-MB rallies headed to the group's
headquarters in Moqattam district and some of the protesters set fire to
four buses belonging to MB members who came to the area to protect the
building.

Security and armored vehicles were deployed around the headquarters
and there were a dozen of ambulances deployed in the streets while a
state of turmoil overwhelmed the area.

"Two lines of security forces separated the MB supporters who
gathered outside the group's headquarters and the protesters who threw
stones at the security," an eyewitness told Xinhua.

The eyewitness added that some of the protesters launched Molotov
cocktails and fireworks while some others set fire to tyres in the
nearby streets until the police used teargas bombs to disperse them.

"Sound of gunfire was heard but the source and type are unknown, " the witness said, noting clashes were still going on.

Some protesters besieged a number of MB supporters inside Al- Taqwa
mosque near Al-Nafoura Square in Moqattam, claiming they had weapons and
tear gas bombs inside according to one of the protesters.

Another eyewitness said the protesters formed monitoring committees
in the entrances of the Moqattam district to prevent any of the MB
members to get into the district, which stirred quarrels and clashes
between the protesters and some MB members.

Meanwhile, in Manial district of Giza, some anti-MB protesters broke
into the headquarters of the group's political arm Freedom and Justice
Party (FJP), according to state-run Al-Ahram Online news website.

The ground floor of the FJP headquarters was totally smashed
including the offices and the furniture, while some demonstrators
attempted to set fire to the place until others prevented them.

Similarly, in Gharbiya governorate's largest city of Mahalla, anti-MB
protesters sit fire to the MB headquarters turning all contents into
ashes but no casualties were reported.

In Alexandria, protesters also set fire to the FJP headquarters in Fleming and Mostafa Kamel neighborhoods.

Over 20 political parties and movements, mostly liberals, including
Al-Dostour Party and Free Egyptians Party, in addition to some 30 public
figures, have called for staging a rally dubbed "Friday of restoring
dignity" on Friday outside the MB headquarters.

Anti-MB protesters across the country have been demanding holding
presidential election in September under full international supervision,
sacking the current government and prosecutor-general, and drafting a
new constitution to replace the newly-drafted "Islamist-dominated" one.

The Muslim Brotherhood said Thursday that it has
the right to defend its headquarters in Moqattam against attacks by
protesters opposed to its group.

At a press conference held at the Grand Nile
Tower hotel on the Nile Corniche in Garden City, the Brotherhood's
Secretary General Mahmoud Hussein said, "We do not start fights but we
will not allow anyone to attack our headquarters."

Hussein said the protesters that descended on the
Brotherhood headquarters Saturday deliberately provoked and insulted
youth members protecting the building. He added that the protesters had
carried knives, sticks and Molotov cocktails. "We will hold those who
committed violations accountable," he said.

Hussein also refused to apologize for the clashes, despite the fact that several protesters and journalists were injured.

"Why apologise?” he asked. "There is a group that
attacked the Brotherhood headquarters and another that was covering the
events. To the first group, we owe no apology. If investigations,
judicial or internal, prove we have wronged the second group, we will
apologize — so far it has not been proven who sparked the clashes."

Proceedings at the conference were interrupted by
a heated argument between Brotherhood leaders and some reporters. The
journalists accused the Brotherhood of bias for only showing footage of
one of its members being attacked.

The reporters said it was unfair not to show
other video, including widely circulated footage of alleged Brotherhood
members slapping female protesters as well as shots of Deputy Supreme
Guide Khairat al-Shater’s personal guard beating reporters.

Journalists began chanting "Down with the rule
of the Supreme Guide" and called for the screening of other videos
showing reporters being assaulted at the hands of Brotherhood members.

Earlier Hussein had accused media of "neglecting
the fact that it was [reporters and protesters] who came to Moqattam,
insulted and provoked [members of the Brotherhood] and then attacked the
headquarters and the police with bombs, Molotovs cocktails and
birdshot.

"Nevertheless, we pledge to investigate and if we find the building guards committed violations, we will hold them responsible."

The leader condemned calls for a new protest at
the headquarters Friday, saying, "Now they are calling for people to go
to the headquarters on Friday to continue their assault."

Hussein said the police are responsible for
protecting the Brotherhood headquarters, but said the group would step
in if security forces failed in their task.

Ahmed Aref, the group's spokesperson took a less
provocative tone and said, "I respect reporters and I admit that those I
have dealt with are well-mannered and serious in their coverage of the
group's news.

"We are not enemies of the profession or
professional reporters... the Brotherhood does not accept insult to any
reporter... If there were violations or insults during the clashes, the
matter is now in the hands of the judiciary."

Committee to Protect Journalists

March 19, 2013

At least 14 journalists were attacked by
police and supporters of Egypt's
Muslim Brotherhood group outside the group's headquarters in Cairo on Saturday
and Sunday, according to news reports and local journalists.

"The attackers want to prevent the public from getting a full
picture of the country's political discontent by trying to silence the
journalists witnessing these protests," said CPJ Middle East and North Africa
Coordinator Sherif Mansour. "We call on the Egyptian authorities to fully
investigate these deplorable assaults and hold everyone, including police
officers, accountable under the law."

Members and supporters of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood
group clashed with activists attempting to spray anti-party graffiti outside
the group headquarters on Saturday, according to news reports. The members threatened several journalists
covering the rally, saying they would break their equipment if they did not
leave, according to witnesses and local journalists who spoke to CPJ.

At least eight journalists were attacked by
members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood that day. Sky News correspondent Rofida Atef told CPJ that four
journalists in her crew were attacked and their camera destroyed.

Mohammad
Nabil, a photographer for Al-Watan
newspaper, told CPJ his right leg was broken in another attack and that Al-Watan photographer, Amr Hafez Diab,
was wounded in his hand.

Russia Today photographer Mukhtar Ahmed said he
was beaten in the head by 10 individuals with sticks. Al-Masry al-Youm journalist
Mohammed Talaat told CPJ that at least five people beat him, but that he
managed to escape when one attacker tried to stab him.

After photographs of the attacks emerged in the local media
Saturday night, Mahmoud Ghozlan, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood,
released a statement that
said the journalists had provoked group members and that the members were defending
their property from attacks.

Early Sunday, the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate filed an official
complaint with the Prosecutor General, who opened an investigation into the
attacks and summoned for questioning three bodyguards of Khairat el-Shater, a
senior official of the Muslim Brotherhood group, news reports said.

Protesters gathered outside the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters on
Sunday, demonstrating against the attacks on journalists and activists the day
before. Police assaulted at least six
journalists covering the clashes, news reports.

Al-Youm
al-Saba'a journalist Mohammed Ismail told his newspaper
that riot police beat and temporarily detained him. Al-Watan editor
Ahmed Ghoneim accused the
police of firing rubber bullets at him and beating him when he ran away.

He
said he injured his right foot. News accounts reported that Amr Arafa of Veto online newspaper, and Al-Youm al-Saba'a
journalists Mohamed Haggag, Maher Malak, and Mahmoud Hifnawy were also
attacked, but did not offer further details.

Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maksoud, a lawyer for the Muslim Brotherhood,
told CPJ today that the group does not use violence as a tactic, and that in
this case the media had conducted a smear campaign against them. He said Muslim
Brotherhood officials would be conducting an internal investigation into the
accusations against its members and that the results would be announced
publicly.

Local journalists protested in front of the Egyptian Parliament
today against increased attacks against them by supporters of the Egyptian
government, news
reports said.

AP - CAIRO: President
Mohammed Morsi addressed riot police at one of their camps near Cairo
before joining them in weekly Friday prayers in a show of solidarity with the
force.

The
riot police, known as Central Security, have been at the forefront of deadly
clashes with protesters the past two years since the 18-day uprising that
toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in February
2011. Hundreds of protesters have been killed over that period, and rights
groups accuse the police of using snipers and lethal force. Policemen also have
been killed and have suffered serious injuries.

Over
the past weeks, thousands of officers and low-ranking policemen staged protests
outside police stations and refused to work. Some accuse the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, of
trying to control the force.

The Brotherhood denies the claims. Others demand
higher wages, better working conditions, greater firepower and stronger
immunity from prosecution for carrying out their duties. Many are demanding the
resignation of Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, head of the security forces.

"This
country loves you, hugs you and protects you, and always expects from you
courage and sacrifice," he said.

He seemed
to laud them for a role in the uprising against Mubarak, which began on Jan.
25, 2011 — and which the police tried to crush. A government report obtained
this week by The Associated Press concluded that police were behind the deaths
of nearly 900 protesters during the 18-day uprising.

The
police "were at the heart" of Jan. 25 revolution, Morsi said in his
speech, after praising them for being "at the heart" of earlier
Egyptian victories.

"Almighty
God willed that Jan. 25 also be Police Day, a day of remembering the sacrifices
of the police."

The
2011 revolution was sparked in large part by outrage over abuses and torture by
the police, which under Mubarak targeted opponents including the Muslim
Brotherhood.

The uprising began when anti-torture activists called an
anti-police protest coinciding with Police Day, a public holiday commemorating
the security forces. When huge crowds joined the rallies and turned them into
anti-Mubarak protests, police cracked down, sparking days of bloody fighting.
The Brotherhood joined the revolt.

In
his speech, Morsi warned the police against divisions.

"Be
aware, as I know you are, against breaking ranks or else our enemy will break
us all," Morsi said. "Our enemy outside the country is happy when we
are divided."

Rights
activists on Facebook denounced Morsi's speech and questioned his suggestion
that police were at the heart of the uprising.

"Instead
of this talk that turns the facts upside down in an attempt to reach out to
riot police, should it not be a priority first of the president to put forth a
plan to repair the relationship between police and the people?" asked one
group dedicated to the case of Khaled Said, a young man tortured to death by
police in 2010. Said's death was a rallying cry in the anti-Mubarak protests.

Morsi
acknowledged changes that have swept Egypt since the revolution, saying that
his June 30 election as the country's first freely elected and first civilian
president was a historical turning point for the police force.

In
the past two years, around 100 policemen have been tried in cases related to
the killing of protesters with almost all ending in acquittals.

Reform
of the police is among protesters' top demands.

In
the restive Suez Canal city of Port Said, thousands of residents rallied
against Morsi on Friday. They also demanded retribution for the killing of
around 45 people in clashes with police there this year.

The
protest came a day after Morsi delivered a televised message to the people of
Port Said, promising investigations that would uncover perpetrators of the
recent unrest there.

Last
week, protesters in the city torched security headquarters there, forcing the
police to withdraw from the streets. The army, which took over security of the
city, was enthusiastically welcomed.

That
sentiment was echoed in Cairo, where several hundred people rallied on Friday
in support of bringing back military rule and ousting Morsi.

Atlantic Council

March 14, 2013

Mahmoud Salem

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) issued a highly critical statement yesterday against the draft proposal of the UN declaration on women’s rights.
The Muslim Brotherhood statement says that the proposed draft includes
articles “that contradict established principles of Islam, undermine
Islamic ethics and destroy the family”, and, if ratified, “would lead to
[the] complete disintegration of society.”

The statement by the MB included 10 specific points of contention,
the most controversial of which are the belief that ratifying the
document would lead to the following:

Giving wives full rights to file legal complaints against husbands
accusing them of rape or sexual harassment, obliging competent
authorities to deal husbands punishments similar to those prescribed for
raping or sexually harassing a stranger.

Replacing guardianship with partnership, and full sharing of roles
within the family between men and women such as: spending, child care
and home chores.

Full equality in marriage legislation such as: allowing Muslim women
to marry non-Muslim men, and abolition of polygamy, dowry, men taking
charge of family spending, etc.

Removing the authority of divorce from husbands and placing it in the hands of judges, and sharing all property after divorce

Cancelling the need for a husband’s consent in matters like: travel, work, or use of contraception.

What is interesting about the MB’s objections, besides seemingly
taking issue with women’s equality as a concept and with recognizing
that husbands can rape their wives, is that their objections are more
inferred from the spirit of the draft document than from the document
itself.

What is even more bizarre is objecting to topics that weren’t
even mentioned in the draft, like “granting equal rights to homosexuals,
and providing protection and respect to prostitutes.”

Unfortunately, the National Council for Women (NCW) focused on the
latter point, attacking the Muslim Brotherhood stance, describing it as a
“misleading statement” that aims for sensational and inflammatory
politics. I say unfortunately because that entirely misses the point of
the MB statement and doesn’t provide the appropriate response that the
NCW should have given.

For example, while the draft resolution doesn’t call for providing
protection or respect for prostitutes, it does call for ending violence
against all women, which would include the minority that work in
prostitution.

Those women, while their job may be deemed immoral or
illegal in certain countries, deserve protection from violence like any
other human being or citizen of their country, a fact which the MB seems
to take issue with.

Aside from using religion to oppose equality
between men and women, they are even advocating dehumanizing - in the
sense of deeming them unworthy of their human rights - those they
consider morally bankrupt, like lesbians or prostitutes.

Protecting
these two subgroups of citizens from violence is against Islam according
to the MB, and therefore shouldn’t be allowed.

As for “regular” females, the MB believes that giving them the right
to deny their husbands sex is blasphemous and that reporting spousal
rape is destructive to both the family and society.

In a resolution
aimed at stopping violence against women, the MB believes that sexual
violence is permitted and should not be stopped if it takes place
between two married partners. Domestic abuse? What’s that?

To call these objections a set-back to women’s rights in Egypt would
be an understatement. The MB object to women even being allowed to use
contraceptives without their husband’s consent, let alone work or
travel.

We are witnessing, in the 21st century, a group that views women
as nothing more than second class citizens or an inferior race that men
are allowed to control, rape, or treat violently if they were
“immoral”, without legal recourse, and in the name of Islam and the
protection of society.

We are also witnessing the stripping away of the
few rights that women had in Egypt before the revolution, which were
nowhere near satisfactory then, but look really good now.

It’s an
outrage, and a sad day for Egyptian women, but will hopefully shine a
light on the war that the Muslim Brotherhood has been waging against
Egyptian women for the past year.

The National Salvation Front (NSF), the main opposition coalition
against the Muslim Brotherhood, whose voter-base is the women of the
country, should stand firmlyagainst
such policies and recommendations.

Unfortunately, social policy
discourse, especially relating to women’s rights, has been severely
lacking in Egypt, with some attributing this to the fact that the NSF is
made up of 13 men.

That needs to change. If the women of Egypt are to
fight for their rights against the kind of misogynistic assault the MB
seems intent on unleashing on them, the entity championing their issue
cannot be made entirely of men, no matter how liberal or open-minded
they may be. Now, more than ever, the need for a female political entity
advancing women’s rights is paramount.

The international community would be correct to condemn the MB’s
objections, particularly since they contravene international agreements
and treaties of which Egypt is a signatory, and which as a group, they
have promised to honor.

Another commendable policy is the “more for
more” approach that the European Parliament has taken to financial aid
to Egypt, linking aid to democratic reforms. Interestingly, in a statement published today,
MEP’s are withholding financial support to Egypt until they see
progress in democracy, human rights and rule of law.

Their first point?
Stopping violence against women. By virtue of rapid response or
fortunate timing, the EU Parliament is on the right side at the right
time of the issue, and hopefully the rest of the world will follow.